This posting goes along with my "The Digital Movement" series of postings, but I wanted to pull this out separately for those looking specifically for a good digital comic books reader.
Before I get to revealing the comic book reader I use, I want to stand high on my PDF soapbox, again. My call for a uniform format of PDF and a reader of Adobe's Acrobat was further reinforced yesterday when I attempted to access some comic books in CBZ format. Yes, yes, I've heard all the zealous comments about the CBZ format. Its a better format (although no one can specifically defend the claim), it offers a superior resolution (which doesn't make up for crappy scans), and its not as bloated as PDF documents. Really? Have you actually compared file sizes? Please, please stop drinking the liquid drain cleaner - it impairs your judgement.
After deciding on a digital comic viewer, and viewing said CBZ formatted comics, I can say with 100% complete confidence that I am clearly un-impressed with CBZ formatted comic books. I can't say that PDF comic books are far superior, but the deciding factor between the formats is in the viewer. For PDFs, there is Adobe's Acrobat. Sure, if you're afraid of the big bad corporate giants, you can stay away from Adobe and install some small company's version. But, the simple fact is that Adobe has, and will most likely, always keep the Acrobat viewer up-to-date. There's no wondering like you do for the little companies. Plus, its free.
Getting back to the CBZ format, I was faced with finding a viewer for my CBZ formatted comics. This should be an easy task, right? WRONG!!! Take a look at this site (Comic Viewers)[1]. This is even worse than my initial searches for a viewer. This site shows my complaint about the CBZ (and related formats). There are way too damn many versions of software for viewing digital comics. My first hurdle was finding a viewer for my Mac. I do not own a Windows based machine any longer. With the assault of Vista, and the unrelenting and aggressive attacks on my PCs I finally decided to leave that environment. I've been happy with Mac ever since.
The choice in viewers for the Mac world are substantially less than the PC world. I tried to install a couple and was severely disappointed. Eventually I found "Comic Book Lover" [2], build for the Mac and compatible the current release of the Mac OS. Considering my distaste for the Windows world I can not recommend a PC based comic viewer, nor would I care to. Honestly, I do not care which viewer is the best. If you believe comments on the internet, EVERY comic book viewer is the BEST. Any idiot with an internet connect seems "qualified" to declare the viewer they are most comfortable using. I don't give any weight to comments like "u shud use comic readre. cuz".
I will tell you that I like Comic Book Lover because it mimics the iTunes models very well. If you like the iTunes model I don't have to say any more. If you hate the iTunes model, I won't say any more. Like it or hate it, it mimics the iTunes model. That alone gives you a point of comparison in which to make your decision. Admittedly, I haven't spent much time with the software, but my limited exposure has been very positive. The fact that it loaded the first time without any hassles, and that it supports the current Mac OS is far and away a superior aspect. It tells me they are producing a professional product with the end user in mind. If you want to get your hands dirty, I suggest you use a nerdified application that allows you to play in an open sourced application. I do enough software development for my day job, the last thing I want to do is more coding at night and on weekends. There is a cost of $25 to get rid of the water mark which I will definitely pay because I want to support the companies efforts. I want them to stay in business and keep this Comic Book Lover current and constantly add new features to it.
In summary, you should use the comic book viewer that best works for you. Me, I'm using Comic Book Lover for CBZ formated and Acrobat for PDF formats. 'nuff said!
References:
[1] - http://www.zcultfm.com/~comic/wiki/index.php/Comic_Viewers
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